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Here is the new (tenth) issue of Explorations, a journal devoted now mainly to literature (please note that the linguistics section has been dropped). We hope you will find something interesting in the articles that follow. As usual, we begin with an interview. In this issue, Professor Michael Gorra speaks about his book The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War (2020), a compelling study of Faulkner's dilemmas and ambivalences in regard to the post-bellum America.

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female pirate captains |cross-dressing |patriotism |national identity and destiny

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The article analyzes two cross-dressing female protagonists who go to sea and assume the position of pirate captains. They are Bess Bridges in Thomas Heywood’s dramatic work entitled The Fair Maid of the West; or, a Girl Worth Gold, and Fanny Campbell in The Female Pirate Captain. A Tale of the Revolution by Maturin Murray Ballou. The article shows distinct parallels between Bess and Queen Elizabeth Tudor, and demonstrates that Fanny’s seafaring adventure was inspired by that of Bess. Both heroines are also examined with a view to their contribution to the shaping of national identity and destiny of their respective countries.

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Clive Caroline |psychopathy |gentleman |Victorian |sensation novel

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Although the popularity of Paul Ferroll by Caroline Clive has waned considerably since its first publication in 1855, the book still deserves critical attention not only for being an antecedent of sensation fiction mastered by Collins, Braddon or Wood, but also for its exceptional portrayal of Victorian masculinity exemplified by the eponymous character. At first glance, Mr. Ferroll seems to be the paragon of gentlemanly virtues, in both public and domestic milieus. Nevertheless, under the mask of respectability and benevolence there lurks a heinous villain, who terrorizes his family, manipulates other people, delights in hazard and kills in cold blood for his self-serving ends. John Sutherland (1989, 133) calls Paul Ferroll “the most unusual criminal hero of the Victorian period,” reflecting at the same time considerable controversy that the novel aroused among readers, puzzled by this equivocal and morally dubious construction of masculinity. The unique blend of gentlemanliness and moral debasement stems from the fact that, in light of modern psychology, the protagonist exhibits symptoms of psychopathic personality. Caroline Clive’s text may be regarded as an amateur study of how a Victorian psychopath could assert his manliness in society obsessed with strict moral codes and instructive approach towards gender enactment. A careful scrutiny of the protagonist’s demeanor underpinned by modern psychological concepts provides convincing evidence that Paul Ferroll may be called not only an undeservedly forgotten forerunner of sensation fiction, but also a pioneer (though unprofessional) text of criminal psychology.

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narrative |Ann Radcliffe |Gothic |Oedipal |Sophocles |Agatha Christie |Sigmund Freud

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The article offers a redefinition of the Gothic as an Oedipal narrative arrangement. This artistic meaning of the Oedipal as relevant for Gothic narratives is defined in separation from the clinical understanding of it as related to the Freudian transgressions of incest and patricide. The article’s literary-comparative analysis is concerned with Sophocles’ Oedipus and Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. Finally, a brief analysis is offered of the classic mystery plot for the purpose of making the proposed Oedipal definition of the Gothic more articulate. The examples are provided by two Hercule Poirot novels by Agatha Christie.

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Elizabeth Gaskell |protection |protectiveness |provincial |Cranford

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The article analyzes the theme of protectiveness in Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Cranford. A close reading of several episodes focuses on the examination of different forms and functions of protective gestures that belong in the provincial community. Some of them are discrete and selfless expressions of female kindness and considerateness, aiming to protect the dignity or comfort of a distraught individual. Others, where the protective action is collectively undertaken, turn out to be informed by social significance. While they entail kind concern for an individual in need, they also have in view the need of the community and serve as a means of securing its cohesion.

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Don DeLillo |Postmodernism |American fiction |sublime theory |technology

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This article focuses on the sublime experience in Don DeLillo’s recent novel Zero K, framing it as a return, via sublime, to a possible, albeit vicarious, experience of the transcendental. General consensus on the sublime gravitates towards awe and terror upon encountering phenomena that overwhelm the mind, forcing it to become conscious of its limits. However, postmodern theory has largely departed from the idea of the transcendental in the sublime, focusing instead on the failure of representation itself. Don DeLillo’s novels often problematize this very failure. In Zero K he has arguably reinjected the possibility of the transcendental into the idea of the sublime. Despite main protagonist Jeffrey Lockhart’s various doubts, his visit to the Convergence – a cutting-edge cryonic facility, designed to emphasize the spiritual and religious side of an experiment with immortality – proves solemn and awe-inspiring, and he is overwhelmed by the project’s ingenuity, massiveness, and all-encompassing spiritual atmosphere.

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Margaret Atwood |MaddAddam |animals |nature |ecology

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The article presents a study of relations of humans to nature in Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing and her MaddAddam trilogy. These novels highlight various negative aspects of the relationship between humans and nature or non-human beings, such as violence against animals, hunting and fishing, exploitation and destruction of the environment, climate change, genetic engineering and the creation of genetically modified animals and humans. On the other hand, the novels also suggest some possibilities of positive relations, such as the experience of unity with nature, deriving hope from the beauty of nature and its power of adaptation and regeneration, creating new ways of cooperating with nature and non-human beings, instead of dominating and destroying them.